Standing woman wearing chiton and mantle

Greek women could not go outside unaccompanied, and when they were in public, covered themselves from head to toe. This woman wears a chiton, a traditional Greek garment, and cloaks her arms and head in a mantle, concealing nearly her whole body in thick folds of fabric. Such attire was a symbol of modesty, though historians speculate that some women may have dressed in this fashion in preparation for a mantle dance; they would cover their bodies in clothing and dance in honor of a god. No records of this mantle dance exist except for representations in art, such as Mount Holyoke’s column krater depicting veiled dancing women.